I agree with Jonathan's approach. Why make life more difficult? I use
parenthesis to reflect the original such as "Lawrenceville (was
Maidenhead), Mercer County, New Jersey". If the county is different I do
the same there - "Monmouth County (now Mercer County )" or the like. If
necessary additional data (such as dates, etc.) can go into events or
notes. I have found that the great majority of the people who peruse my
info are not into genealogy as such but just generally interested in the
family. Using the contemporary location as the primary is something they
can relate to - will tell you very quickly that you have the wrong
community in the wrong county, etc. You must then explain to the elderly
great aunt what it is all about and this she will (sometimes
intentionally), not understand - many just find it confusing and simply
loose interest. I prefer to be practical about these things, not
technically correct. The technically correct will still have the info
and can change to whatever they feel is proper - "makes no nevermind to
me".
TomM
----- Original Message -----
From: "Coddgenealogy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 8:32 AM
Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] location name changes
I decided to use modern names in the Birth, Death, Event, etc. Place
fields, but then I use Legacy as a database to organize knowledge,
documentation, and sources, not as a software equivalent of historical
reenactment. Filling such key data fields with stuff that no longer
exists makes research harder, as records mostly reside in the modern
versions of place. Everyone knows that counties and territories
subdivided; defunct geographies, orthographies, entities, are assumed.
If antequated names are relevant, I put them in any of the many fields
that hold explanatory notes. One often needs to know the history of
place to interpret a record, but I'd rather optimize the data to
interact with modern-day life (on line databases, GIS) than
recapitulating the past.
Jonathan
Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE
research trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of
Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter online at
http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp
Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at:
http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp
To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/
To unsubscribe please visit:
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE research trip to
Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter
online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp
Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at:
http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp
To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/
To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
